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Pirates will take over the school campuses as the elementary school holds the sixth annual fun run, now called the Pirate Run, Saturday, March 15. The Pirate Run will include a one-mile Plank Walk/Run at 4 p.m. for children and adults and the Peg Leg 5K Walk/Run at 5 p.m.
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Residents in Pike County have worked together to raise barns since the early 1800s. Local agriculture students and Future Farmers of America members need the community’s help to keep the tradition alive.
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A Woodbury man was arrested by Pike County Sheriffs Office drug agents Monday night. Anthony Willis, 37 years of age, had caught the attention of agents as a supplier of drugs to the Molena area during other investigations.
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The 17th annual Tour de Pike will roll through Pike County Saturday, March 15, at 8:30 a.m. Bike riders of all skill sets may take part in the event which offers scenic routes and starts in Concord.
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There have been more than 171 calls to the Emergency 911 Center since the storm hit with reports of trees in the roads, power lines down and other weather-related incidents. The Pike County Sheriff's Office is encouraging citizens to stay off the roads even though the temperature will rise above freezing because of the possibility of trees falling and ice accumulation on roadways.

There have been 171 calls for service made to the pike county 911 center since the winter storm hit Pike County.

"This number does not reflect the high volume of calls that have been made requesting weather information," said Maj. David Neal. "A large number of calls have also been made to road department personnel and reported in person by citizens. The current estimates are that Pike County Emergency Services and road department employees have assisted and/or responded to approximately 300 incidents across the county."

Pike County and the American Red Cross have opened the senior citizens center , 9716 highway 19, to any persons needing shelter during the power outages. There will be personnel at that location to help anyone needing assistance. Citizens can call 567-3857 for further information.

The Pike County EMA and the American Red Cross have opened a shelter for anyone without power at the senior center on Highway 19 in Zebulon. Cots will be delivered by this evening. Bring anything you would need to stay the night, including medications and comfort items. No pets allowed. More details as they become available.

SRE THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE:

As of 11:00 a.m. over 8400 of our members remain without power. We have an additional 41 workers helping with restoration efforts now and 30 more are on the way from Alabama. The safety of our linemen and those who have come to our aid continues to be our top priority. The ice is beginning to melt which will help us make progress but the damage is extensive and repairs are time consuming. Please remember that there is a method to restoring power safely and effectively. There is no point in repairing a tap line at a residence when the substation that feeds it is out. View a diagram of the process on the Storm Center page of our website: http://www.southernriversenergy.com/Storm%20Center/4777_Restore_Power.pdf

We expect to work through Friday making repairs, possibly into Saturday. The Civic Center in Barnesville and the Pike County Senior Center on Hwy 19 in Zebulon have been designated emergency shelters and will remain open as needed for anyone in need of relief. We cannot guarantee a time frame in which your power will be restored so please, we urge you to make other arrangements if you have any conditions that require a constant supply of electricity.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work toward safely restoring power for all our members. Please continue to use the outage hotline for outage reporting: 1-866-244-4890 but if you have already reported your outage, PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE CALLING. This ice storm has moved across the southeast and our call center is now overwhelmed with handling outage reports from numerous cooperatives. If you have already reported your outage, we have it in the system and will get to it as soon as possible.

We will continue updating our website, Facebook and Twitter throughout the duration of this event. Outages can be tracked in real-time with our live outage viewer: http://68.208.12.169:82/.

As of 6:45 a.m. nearly 9000 of our members are without power. We do not yet know the extent of the damage but will be able to make a better assessment after daylight. Once crews have taken inventory of the damage to the system we will make our best estimate as to how long we anticipate restoration efforts will take. We have 7 additional crews to help with restoration efforts for a total of approximately 35 extra workers and have asked for more from any co-op that can spare them. The safety of our linemen and those who have come to our aid is our top priority as they work in these dangerous conditions to restore power. It will be difficult to make progress until the temperature gets above freezing and the ice begins to melt off the trees. The lines are being torn down by falling trees and limbs as fast as our crews can put them up. Please be patient; this is not a quick process. Also keep in mind that there is a method to restoring power safely and effectively. There is no point in repairing a tap line at a residence when the substation that feeds it is out. This diagram explains the process in detail.

We will continue updating our website, Facebook and Twitter throughout the duration of this event. Outages can be tracked in real-time with our live outage viewer: http://68.208.12.169:82/

We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work toward safely restoring power for all our members. Please continue to use the outage hotline for outage reporting: 1-866-244-4890.

As night fell, road conditions in Pike County were deteriorating. Sleet was slicking roads and making bridges dangerous.

Those conditions are expected to worsen as temperatures fall to 27 degrees overnight. Freezing rain is forecast to continue through 11 p.m. followed by a mix of sleet and snow which should end by 3 a.m. Thursday. Temps will be eel above freezing at 44 degrees by mid afternoon Thursday.

UPDATE: SRE outage numbers increase:

Southern Rivers Energy has over 3400 members without power as of 8 p.m Crews are still working steadily although work has become somewhat counterproductive as lines are coming down as fast as they as they can put them up. Please be patient with all the utility workers as they have quite a task ahead of them. The Civic Center in Barnesville is open for anyone in need of a comfort station. Again, SRE members are asked to call 1-866-244-4890 to report outages.

Meanwhile, Southern Rivers Energy continues to battle outages. More are expected overnight as icy limbs fal, taking down power lines

From Erin Cook at SRE:

As of 5:00 p.m. we have 2318 members without power. We anticipate conditions to worsen overnight. Again, we have 6 additional crews to help with restoration efforts for a total of approximately 35 extra workers. SRE members should call the new outage hotline to report their outages at 1-866-244-4890. We will continue updating our website, Facebook and Twitter throughout the duration of this event. Outages can be tracked in real-time at southernriversenergy.com with our live outage viewer: http://68.208.12.169:82

Icing began before dawn Wednesday in many areas. Stay at home if at all possible.

Report conditions at your location in the comments or on our Facebook page.

GEMA early morning update:

Avoid Travel as Weather Conditions Worsen
(ATLANTA) -- All motorists are urged to stay off of the roads as the threat of icy conditions continues to increase throughout the day. Ice can be deceptively dangerous, difficult to anticipate, and extremely difficult to drive on. Bridges and overpasses will ice first.
Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security, in coordination with the Georgia Department of Public Safety and Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), strongly cautions motorists to stay off the roads until conditions improve.
The National Weather Service (NWS) ice storm and winter weather warnings remain in effect for the upper half of the state. Forecasters are predicting extremely hazardous conditions which will cause power outages and substantial structural damage due to falling trees and ice.
Residents outside of the storm warning area may also face the threat of icy road conditions. A State of Emergency remains in effect for 91 counties.
GDOT will focus on keeping highways passable for emergency purposes only. The overall goal is to keep all roads passable, but the extent of that challenge is unknown as weather conditions are expected to deteriorate throughout the day. Motorists who need to travel for emergency purposes are advised to reduce their speed, avoid GDOT trucks on the road and closely follow travel information as the weather system brings changing conditions.

...ICE STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 1 PM EST
THURSDAY...
...WINTER STORM WARNING IS CANCELLED BUT HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH AN
ICE STORM WARNING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PEACHTREE CITY HAS ISSUED AN ICE
STORM WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 1 PM
EST THURSDAY. AN ICE STORM WARNING HAS IMPACTS WHICH ARE AS GREAT
OR GREATER THAN THE WINTER STORM WARNING. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS
THE ICE STORM WARNING AREA WILL HAVE MORE ICE THAN SNOW WITH ITS
IMPACTS FOR THIS EVENT.

* LOCATIONS...ALONG AND EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM FRANKLIN TO
NEWNAN AND PEACHTREE CITY TO WARRENTON.

* HAZARD TYPES...MAINLY FREEZING RAIN WITH SOME SNOW AND SLEET.

* TIMING...SNOW...SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN WILL BEGIN LATE
TONIGHT...GENERALLY AFTER MIDNIGHT AND CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY.
THIS WILL GRADUALLY CHANGEOVER TO ALL FREEZING RAIN WEDNESDAY
INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE ACTIVITY SHOULD END AS LIGHT SNOW LATE
WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING.

* IMPACTS...THESE HIGH ICE ACCUMULATION AMOUNTS WILL MAKE TRAVEL
IMPOSSIBLE. THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A CATASTROPHIC EVENT.
WIDESPREAD AND EXTENDED POWER OUTAGES ARE LIKELY AS ICE
ACCUMULATES ON TREES AND POWERLINES AND BRINGS THEM DOWN. PLEASE
PREPARE TO BE WITHOUT POWER IN SOME LOCATIONS FOR DAYS AND
PERHAPS AS LONG AS A WEEK. ONCE THE ICE BEGINS TO MELT ON
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...FALLING ICE FROM BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES
WILL CREATE AN ADDITIONAL HAZARD.

* WINDS...NORTHEAST 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH. THESE
WIND SPEEDS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ICE WILL EXACERBATE THE
POTENTIAL FOR FALLING TREES.

* TEMPERATURES...IN THE LOWER 30S AND DROPPING INTO THE UPPER 20S.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR ICE MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS ICE ARE
FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS AND IMPOSSIBLE IN MOST
CASES. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN
EXTRA FLASHLIGHT...FOOD... AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF
AN EMERGENCY. WITH THE FORECAST ICE AMOUNTS...WIDESPREAD POWER
OUTAGES ARE POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY IN THE WEDNESDAY TO WEDNESDAY
NIGHT TIME PERIOD.

A LAYER OF ICE...COMBINED WITH WINDY CONDITIONS...IS EXPECTED TO
BREAK TREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES. STAY INDOORS AND AWAY FROM THESE
HAZARDS...AND PREPARE FOR POWER OUTAGES BY HAVING FLASHLIGHTS AND
EMERGENCY SUPPLIES READY.

Promise Place, a non-profit group established in 1987 to provide assistance to domestic violence victims and their children, was recently presented with $10,000 from the Southern Rivers Energy Trust, Inc through the co-op’s Operation Round Up program.
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